About Sven
Sven Smit is a director in McKinsey’s Amsterdam office and works with many leading companies on developing strategies for growth. His experience includes analyzing the success factors required for growth, assessing the impact of megatrends on business growth, and defining lessons learned from “diversified growth,” building on the work in the book he coauthored, The Granularity of Growth.
Sven also works with the Center for Managing Uncertainty (CMU) and helps develop McKinsey’s perspective on the economy. By building and applying macroeconomic scenarios, he helps develop the firm’s point of view on core issues such as economic volatility, inflation, and fluctuations in oil pricing―and defines ways to help clients navigate this volatility.
In both the telecommunications and high-tech industries, Sven has helped engineer the turnaround of multinational companies through organizational transformation and performance management initiatives, lean operational improvement, and strengthened budgeting processes.
Sven co-leads the Dutch Board Academy, together with senior colleagues from other firms in the Netherlands.
Sven is a keen advocate of work-life balance. In 1993, he became the first male consultant in the Amsterdam office to work part time, choosing to move to a 4-day-a-week program to spend more time with his family.
Published work
“Understanding Asia's conglomerates,” McKinsey Quarterly, February 2013
“The perils of best practice: Should you emulate Apple?,” McKinsey Quarterly, September 2012
“Managing the strategy journey,” McKinsey Quarterly, July 2012
“Have you tested your strategy lately?,” McKinsey Quarterly, January 2011
The Granularity of Growth, John Wiley & Sons, 2008
Past experience
| Philips Research Laboratories |
Engineer/researcher |
Education
| INSEAD |
MBA |
| Delft University of Technology |
Degree in mechanical engineering |